Blue Monday? Stop moaning and make some Che(e)rry Cupcakes!

Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes

So according to Exeter University, today is 'Blue Monday' which is the most depressing day of the year.

This is apparently due to us having no money left after Christmas, bad weather and lack of sunlight. This one day results in workplace malaise and £93 billion in lost productivity in the workplace. What a load of old codswallop! Life is what you make it and if you ask me, today was no more miserable than any other day, unless you too chose to be a misery guts! 

To put a stop to this depressing nonsense and just in case you do have the January blues, I have decided to post possibly the cheeriest recipe ever - the Cherry Bakewell Cupcake. Based on the famous British tart it features an almond sponge, gooey raspberry jam, lemony fondant icing all topped off with a kitsch glace cherry - if this doesn't make you happy then nothing will!

I can't claim the recipe as my own unfortunately - it was featured on the last BBC 2 series of the Great British Bake off. I've taken it from the shows most recent book 'The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake' and have followed the recipe pretty much entirely to the word.

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

150g/5½oz Margarine such as stork, or butter – I used stork but I think butter may give a better result
150g/5½oz Golden caster sugar
100g/3½oz Self-raising flour
3 free-range eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp Baking powder
60g/2¼oz Ground almonds
1 tbsp Milk
90g/3¼oz Raspberry jam


Icing:
250g/9oz Fondant icing sugar
3 tbsp Fresh lemon juice
12 Glacé cherries


Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas mark 5. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2. For the cupcakes, cream the margarine in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients, except the raspberry jam, and mix until well combined.
3. Spoon or pipe the mixture into the cases (they should be two-thirds filled) and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
4. For the icing, mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl until smooth. Don’t be tempted to add more liquid! It may seem thick but go with it – it will become surprisingly runny if you keep working it and it will be more than enough for 12 cupcakes.
5. Using an apple corer or a small sharp paring knife, carefully remove the middle of the cupcakes - not the entire middle, just go about two thirds of the way down. Fill the holes with the raspberry jam,being careful not to over fill each hole otherwise it will mix in with the fondant icing. Don’t despair if it does, pink and white does look quite pretty!
6. Carefully spoon the icing onto the top of each cake until the icing floods to the sides of the cake case and top with a cherry.